


You Know This, You Know This To Be True

by debwalsh



Series: Deb’s Fictober Surprise! [23]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 10:23:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16448078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debwalsh/pseuds/debwalsh
Summary: Bucky’s back with Steve, but his future is as uncertain as his past is missing.  Help comes from a surprising sourceFollows “Impressive, Truly,” “I Know You Love to Play Games,” and “This Is Not New, It Only Feels Like It.”





	You Know This, You Know This To Be True

**Author's Note:**

> After the last piece, I wasn’t satisfied, even though the ending was happy. I realized there is still more to be done to bring Bucky Barnes from the ranks of the assumed dead, and back to the joy of being among the living.

“How’d you end up in HR again?”

“Dude, you tell me! I was a poli sci major! Answered a Craigslist ad for an intern fo this nutty physicist chick - remind me to introduce you to Jane, she is awesome! - and next thing I know, I’m dealing with quantum singularities and all manner of weird. Who knew, huh?”

“That doesn’t tell me how you got into HR.”

“Oh. Jane got hired by this dump, and their interns actually know something about, you know, science. So I needed a new gig, and this was open.”

“So you don’t have any actual HR experience.”

“I’m human. I’m a resource. Match. Made. In. Heaven!”

“Yeah, okay, Darcy. Um, how long do you think this will take?”

“Formalizing your back story to fill in the past two years, sorting out your taxes, overdue bills, oooh, you still owe that much on your student loans? Ouch! Renewing your license and updating your DMV records ... updating all your insurances ... reestablishing you on the voting rolls ... Democrat, nice! Oh, hey, you and Steve were registered a few places - you want me to update those? I mean, you guys still planning to get hitched?”

“I, um, well, we haven’t talked about that.”

“You totally should. And I could give you an updated list of places to register. These are all so ... 2016.”

“Well, yeah, that’s when we registered. We were supposed to get married in, um, September. Becca and I, we got taken in August.”

“Oh, suckworthy timing. Well, I’m guessing any gifts that were bought were returned, so you have an opportunity to start over!”

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“Dude, it’s a gimme! You get to totally redefine yourself, giftwise! Now me, personally, I’d avoid anything with plaid.”

“Um. Hey, you didn’t answer my question about how long -?”

“Done. You can pick up your new IDs on your way out.”

“Already? How -?”

“This ain’t my first rodeo in identity reconstruction. We got a whole program, a staff, and connections up the wazoo. We’re better than the Marshall’s service. And I gotta say, your’s was much more fun than your sister’s. We actually had to go to City Hall for some of hers, thanks to the Stark-Potts guardianship. But, now you’re both done. So, go, be your best new self!”

&&&

True to Darcy’s word, the nice young man at the reception desk had an entire folder of documents and IDs ready for Bucky by the time he got there.

It was all rather dizzying. Almost ... impersonal. Did Stark Industries have to relocate so many people, give them new identities? Or worse, revive dead identities like his and Becca’s, that they had to have an entire department dedicated to the cause?

It all seemed really weird and disorienting. Bucky was glad to be back, and grateful to be out of Hydra’s clutches. But the world had gone down the rabbit hole in the two years since he’d been gone, and he was convinced that at any time, he was going to run into the Mad Hatter and be told that he was late for a very important date.

And Darcy’s question about Steve and him and a wedding.

It was clear that they still loved each other.

And yeah, the sex was, well, phenomenal. Better than he remembered. Even though both of them had remained celibate while the other was not there, they’d fallen back into a rhythm quickly. And the forced separation only fueled their desire for each other, with both of them eager to explore the other and discover what was still the same, and what was different.

He couldn’t imagine not being with Steve.

And yet ... Steve wasn’t who he thought he was. He was an artist, true. But he was also some kind of ... secret agent. And a CEO. Like, a real grown-up. A security consultant with contacts and friends all over the world.

Savvy enough to take down the organization that captured Bucky and his family, that was responsible for his mother’s death. And his Dad ...

He still hadn’t asked what happened to his Dad when Steve’s friends took the Siberian base. He still didn’t want to know.

Didn’t want to know the bastard was still alive when his mother was dead.

Didn’t want to know he was dead because he was a shitty son wishing his father was dead.

So he lived in the land of Denial, Population 2. Him and Becca. Becca didn’t have the memories of their father than Bucky did, she was a late life baby conceived during one of Mom and Dad’s sporadic reconciliations. A surprise, but not a good enough one to keep the guy at home and away from the track.

He was still standing in the Human Resources department, staring down at the folder that contained his life. The guy at the desk was glancing up at him every so often, surreptitiously and a little nervously. He smiled tightly at the guy and saw himself out.

Whoever he really was.

&&&

Before Hydra, Bucky led a pretty full, pretty satisfying life. Not just his relationship with Steve, but his friends, his job, his hobbies. He was a personable guy, good natured and trustworthy. People liked him, and they naturally trusted him. He was good in a pinch, and a great guy to have at your back.

Now, he wasn’t so sure how he fit into social discourse. He had no idea if any of his friends were still around, if any of them would remember him. If any of them would accept the cover story they’d concocted.

WitSec. Until the case was closed, and he was given an opportunity to reclaim his life. He couldn’t talk about the case, or his life while he was gone, but dang, he was happy to be back. Thanks to movies and TV shows, people would be likely to accept it, but he didn’t know anyone to try it out on any longer. 

He forgot to ask Darcy if her identity cleanse went as far as getting in touch with his old employer. He’d loved his job. He’d worked as an engineer for a firm that developed clean energy technology. It’s one of the reasons he’d been selected - or so he’d been told - to recover Stark’s arc technology. More than any of the potential Hydra operatives to be assigned, he had half a chance of understanding it.

Two years is a long time in tech. He didn’t even know if his old employer still existed.

And that’s when he remembered that Stark had gifted him with a phone, not an Android or an iPhone, but one of his proprietary StarkPhones. He fished it out and searched for his old company.

Only to discover that it had recently been purchased by Stark Industries. As recently as that morning.

So, did that mean he had to go ask Tony Stark for his old job back?

He found himself back at the door to the suite he shared with Steve when they decided to stay over in Manhattan. More often than not, really, even though it wasn’t far to scoot over to Brooklyn. He was starting to wonder if maybe he shouldn’t make the Tower his permanent residence, but then he thought that maybe he was just imprisoning himself again, this time in a fancier, better outfitted prison.

Two years he’d been a prisoner.

When would he stop thinking of himself that way?

&&&

“And hey, speak of the devil. Or is that the cat? Does the devil drag, or have the tongue? Tony was babbling.

“Cat, in both cases. You had it right the first time,” Steve chuckled from where he sat on the sofa. Stark was in motion, a kinetic blur that never seemed to settle, except when he had a technical problem to unravel.

“So. Barnes. Steve here didn’t tell me he was boning a gifted engineer.”

“I’m guessing it never came up?” Bucky ventured, shuffling into the apartment. He left his folder on the table by the door, a part of the decor that had been selected and provided by their host. Well, probably Pepper, or more likely a tame interior decorator. It was serviceable, with great views. But ... yeah.

“Not until this morning, when Ms. Lewis was processing your resurrection. She flagged it for me. You worked for a good company, doing some interesting work in the field. I bought it.”

“Yeah, so I just read,” Bucky answered, waggling his phone. “Any reason why?”

“Figured it would be easier for you to transition back if you were in charge,” Tony shrugged.

“If I was in charge.”

“Yeah. It’s your company now. You’re welcome,” Tony prompted, like what he’d done was Bucky’s dearest wish.

“I don’t want a company. I’m not even sure what I want to do yet. I’m still ... I’m, uh -“ he glanced over at Steve helplessly, and thank goodness, the big doofus seemed to catch on.

“Tony, that’s really nice of you, but Buck’s still processing all that’s happened. He’s not ready to go back to work yet, and being in charge - that’s a lot to put on a guy when he’s still getting his feet under him.”

“Yeah, but if he’s in charge, they all have to do what he tells them. No conflicts! I don’t get -“

“Can you use this company?” Steve interrupted.

Tony shrugged. “Sure. I can add them to our energy division. Ooh - Barnes can head that up, instead, huh? Team lead rather than CEO. Just worry about the sexy stuff, the ideas, huh? Not the icky business bits. Does that sound better?”

“I, um, yeah, actually. It does. But don’t you already have a head of that division?”

“Yeah. Me. Nobody’s gonna bitch if you get the job when it means I’m stepping down. Everybody there is afraid of me, which makes it no fun. But you - you’re a people person as well as a genius. You’ll do great. This would actually be doing me a real favor, now that I think about it. Whaddya say, Barnes? Help a billionaire out?”

Bucky couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of him. “Yeah, sure. We’ll try it and see, okay?” he said, putting out his hand to shake with Tony.

Tony threw up his hands and shook his head. “I don’t do that,” he protested.

“Tony doesn’t shake hands, and he doesn’t accept anything handed to him. It’s a thing. Which is probably one thing your new team will like about you, Buck. You don’t have all Tony’s quirks.”

“I’ll have you know I’m beloved for my quirks.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Tony,” Steve said with a grin. Then he glanced over at Bucky, and his expression sobered. “You okay, babe?” 

Tony followed the line of Steve’s sight, and smiled tightly. “I’ll leave you two to it. I need to go tell Lewis to update your records and start processing you as an SI employee. Vacation. You like that, right?”

Bucky nodded warily. “Yeah.”

“Cool. Start you off with three months each year? Plus holidays and shit. All the bennies. Oh, and how does this sound for an annual salary?” he asked, rattling off a number that made Bucky’s eyes bug out.

“Um, yeah, sure, Tony. Thanks.”

“He’s worth it, right?” Tony asked Steve, and Steve nodded solemnly. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Okay, later, lovebirds!”

And Tony was gone, leaving Steve and Bucky to face each other uncertainly.

“It’s a lot. He’s a lot. But he’s got the best of intentions. You’ll get used to him.”

“That’s the thing. There’s just so much. To get used to. To understand. To adapt to. I hadn’t realized how much the world changed - how much I changed - while I was Hydra custody. I’m just ... I don’t really know where I fit, you know?”

Steve nodded as he got up from the sofa and walked over to Bucky.

“You don’t have to decide everything right now. You’re got time to figure it out. You’re safe, and you’ve got people who care about you. And you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. Even making decisions.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But.”

“There’s always a but.”

“Some of us are a bigger butt than others. But,” Steve added, opening his arms to Bucky. Bucky looked at him and smirked, stepping into the circle of Steve’s arms. Steve curled his arms around Bucky, pulling him in close. Resting his forehead against Bucky’s, he said, “You know this. You know this to be true. You always fit here, in my arms. You always have a home here. Because you? You’re my home. And I don’t care where we are, or what we’re doing, how much money we do or don’t have. You’ll always be my home. I love you.”

Bucky’s smile became watery as tears threatened to spill. He tilted his face to press his lips against Steve’s. “You’re a sap, but I’m glad you’re my sap,” he whispered against Steve’s lips. And then a moment of clarity hit him. “I kinda wanna get sappy with you for the rest of my life, punk. Wanna get married?”

Steve’s smile was blinding. “Yes, you jerk. Yes.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I’m really kind of loving this AU, and I may have to revisit it after Fictober is done. In the meantime, there is one more installment in this AU, and then I’m on to the next idea for Fictober!
> 
> Thanks for reading, for your kudos, comments, and your bookmarks!


End file.
